Disposal of disulfide oil compounds and derivatives in delayed coking process

Abstract

A heavy hydrocarbon oil is mixed with one or more disulfide oil compounds and/or one or more oxidized disulfide oil compounds and, optionally, a homogeneous catalyst includes dissolved hydrogen, and the mixture is subjected to a delayed coking process to produce a liquid coking unit product stream for recovery and further processing, with the delayed coking being completed in a reduced residence time as compared to the delayed coking of the heavy hydrocarbon oil without the DSO and/or ODSO compounds.

We claim: 
     
       1. A process for the delayed coking of a heavy hydrocarbon oil feed, the process comprising:
 a. introducing and mixing the heavy oil hydrocarbon teed and one or more disulfide oil compounds, or oxidized disulfide oil compounds, or disulfide oil and oxidized disulfide oil compounds in a mixing zone and recovering a blended heavy oil mixture; 
 b. heating the blended heavy oil mixture in a coking unit furnace to a delayed coking temperature; 
 c. passing the heated blended heavy oil mixture to at least one coking drum of a delayed coking unit to produce a delayed coking unit product stream and depositing coke on the interior of the drum; and 
 d. recovering the delayed coking unit liquid and vapor product stream for further downstream processing, wherein the coke formation in the coking drum is enhanced by promoting the formation of coke more rapidly than would occur in the coking of the heavy hydrocarbon oil feed in the absence of the DSO or ODSO. 
 
     
     
       2. The process of  claim 1  which includes adding a homogeneous liquid catalyst for inclusion in the blended heavy oil mixture introduced into the delayed coking unit. 
     
     
       3. The process of  claim 2  in which the homogeneous liquid catalyst includes transition metal-based compounds derived from an organic acid salt, or from an organo-metal compound containing molybdenum, vanadium, tungsten, chromium or iron. 
     
     
       4. The process of  claim 2 , in which the catalyst is selected from the group consisting of vanadium pentoxide, molybdenum alicyclic and aliphatic carboxylic acids, molybdenum naphthenate, nickel 2-ethylhexanoate, iron pentacarbonyl, molybdenum 2-ethylhexanoate, molybdenum di-thiocarboxylate, nickel naphthenate and iron naphthenate. 
     
     
       5. The process of  claim 1  in which the disulfide oil comprises a plurality of disulfide oil compounds. 
     
     
       6. The process of  claim 1  in which the oxidized disulfide oil comprises a plurality of oxidized disulfide oil compounds. 
     
     
       7. The process of  claim 1  in which the disulfide oil or oxidized disulfide oil constitutes from 0.001-5 W %, 0.1-50 W %, 0.5-30 W %, 0.5-10 W % or 5-75 W % of the total weight of the blended heavy oil mixture. 
     
     
       8. The process of  claim 1  in which the blended heavy oil mixture is heated to a temperature in the range of from 480° C. to 530° C. in the coking furnace. 
     
     
       9. The process of  claim 1  in which the heavy hydrocarbon oil feedstream is a vacuum residue fraction boiling at or above 480° C. an atmospheric residue fraction boiling at or above 350° C., or a whole crude oil boiling at or above 36° C. 
     
     
       10. The process of  claim 1  in which the delayed coking unit comprises at least two drums that operate in swing mode. 
     
     
       11. A method of enhancing the formation of coke in the drum of a delayed coking unit during the delayed coking of a heavy hydrocarbon oil feed, the method comprising:
 a. introducing and mixing the heavy hydrocarbon oil feed and one or more disulfide oil compounds, or oxidized disulfide oil compounds, or disulfide oil and oxidized disulfide oil compounds in a mixing zone and recovering a blended heavy oil mixture; 
 b. heating the blended heavy oil mixture in a coking unit furnace to a delayed coking temperature; and 
 c. passing the heated blended heavy oil mixture to at least one coking drum of a delayed coking unit to produce a delayed coking unit product stream and depositing coke on the interior of the drum, wherein the coke is formed more rapidly than would occur in the coking of the heavy hydrocarbon oil feed in the absence of the DSO and/or ODSO compounds.